Laela Amatt makes annual trips back to the United Kingdom, but she doesn't have to look farther than her Calgary home if she's ever pining for a taste of Britain.
From a British telephone box to a photo of the Queen, Amatt, a former Londoner who has lived in Canada for 20 years, has her share of mementoes. In a fitting fusion of both home countries, Amatt also has a large woollen Union Jack made in Canada 100 years ago that she purchased at a U.K. market.
As managing director of Brits in Canada Inc., an online directory of British-Canadian businesses, Amatt helps facilitate connections for those seeking British-delivered services. The unabashed royal fan proclaims her pride in being English "and love of all things British" on the directory's website, where she's posted a letter she received from Buckingham Palace.
Amatt will gather with friends in the wee hours on Friday for a Champagne toast in celebration of Prince William and Kate Middleton tying the knot. And in true patriotic style, she plans to be decked out from the top down -- and inside out -- in British gear, including an England sweatshirt, and a cap and underwear featuring the Union Jack. "I love the royals," she said. "I love the royals even more since I've left the U.K. I feel so much more connected to Britain being out of the U.K."
Amatt believes the regard many had for the late Diana, Princess of Wales, could be one reason for the widespread interest in her eldest son's impending nuptials.
"I think that people feel connected to William," she said. "Even people who aren't real royal fans, there's a fondness towards William doing well because of the loss of his mum."
Canadians will be among an expected audience of around two billion worldwide tuning into broadcasts of the royal wedding. For many Britons living in Canada, the nuptials are a source of celebration extending beyond the event itself, with the intense spotlight on Britain stirring feelings of chest-swelling and nostalgia for their home country.
"When you live here ... you're a Canadian, but you still have your British-Canadian heritage, and British pride is one of those things that's very hard to lose," said Diane Motley-Bailey, president of the St. George's Society of Toronto, the city's oldest charity, originally founded to help immigrants of English and Welsh origin.
Motley-Bailey had a first-hand taste of the royal experience attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace a few years ago. She will be among the 200 to 300 guests attending the Loyal Societies of Toronto royal wedding celebration Friday.
Motley-Bailey, who is also president of Uniglobe Airstream Travel in Richmond Hill, Ont., has 50 per cent of her clients in the U.K. She said much of the traffic heading to England are expats returning home, and has noticed many of them have made their travel arrangements around the wedding as opposed to perhaps heading over during the summer. The Caledon, Ont., resident said she has loved living in Canada, where she has resided for more than 30 years, but retains a deep feeling of pride in her British roots.
"There was the pageantry of the royal wedding between Diana and Charles on the other night, and seeing the coach and all the people, it's quite a moment -- and I think most British people feel quite the same," she said.
Daughter of an English mother and Scottish father, Sarah Johnson had been living in Cambridge for about three years before moving to Canada in 2000. She still has friends and family in the U.K. and occasionally peruses BritishExpats.com, which hosts the largest British expat community on the web.
She plans to watch and record the televised coverage of the nuptials at home in Windsor, Ont., footage she will replay at the royal wedding tea party she's hosting Friday evening. Johnson is going full throttle with her British-themed shindig, with bunting shipped from the U.K. and a collage featuring pictures of royals and other random British celebs she will hang next to her big Union Jack.
Guests are encouraged to wear hats, fascinators and spring dresses as they enjoy an extensive spread of British treats. Freshly baked scones with clotted cream, Victoria sponge cake, sherry trifle and cheese and pickle sandwiches are among the items being served with tea, gin and tonics and Pimm's, a British gin-based beverage.
Johnson, 31, who is married with a four-year-old son, was in her teens at the same time as Prince William and admits to being fond of the soon-to-be newlywed.
"If I was still single I may have been more jealous than I am," Johnson said teasingly, laughing. "But (Kate is) just so adorable, she's just so lovely and I genuinely am just happy for them. I think it's just a good news story."
While she'll be marking the day on the other side of the Atlantic, Johnson received her own little wedding memento of sorts, with an official Wills and Kate postcard mailed from a friend in England.
"There's some people that are really getting into it. Then there's the people, the naysayers, who don't want anything to do with it," she said. "But generally the people that I speak to are pretty excited about it. They're going to celebrate one way or another whether it's at the pub or having a few drinks."
The hoopla and excitement around the wedding isn't resonating with all British expats.
Calgary accountant Gordon Thomas, who will mark 30 years living in Canada next month, remains very much in touch with what's happening in the U.K.
In addition to following his beloved football team and watching all the English Premier League matches, he reads the Daily Telegraph and Guardian newspapers daily. Thomas and his wife also enjoying watching documentaries and murder-mysteries from back home.
While he'll likely record Friday's wedding on a PVR, Thomas admits the event is of "marginal interest to me."
"I'm not against it, I don't have any negative feelings towards it. It's just not something that's relative to my life," said Thomas, who hails from London.
"I'm a big soccer fan and I've supported Liverpool for the last 40-some years, so if they were playing at 3 o'clock in the morning for the championship, I'd certainly be getting up to watch that. But for the royals, it's of no interest to me."
